Welcome to Halftime Headlines!

Hey everyone,
My name is Mason Gough. I'm a communications student with a marketing minor at Salisbury University. I'm starting this blog as a part of a sports communications class I'm currently taking with Dr. Burns. I've always been super interested in sports and played soccer growing up ever since I was old enough to kick a ball. However, I've been a fan of all sports and got my first taste of the sports communication/marketing world when I had the opportunity to intern for the Delmarva Shorebirds, a triple-A farm team for the Baltimore Orioles. I plan on updating this blog throughout the semester with current and relevant topics that are happening throughout the sports world. Hope you follow along!

Winners and losers from NFL week 1:

Every week during the NFL season, I want to go over some of the biggest winners and losers from the previous week and discuss some things that a few teams did really well and also did really not well.

Baltimore Ravens: Winners
Despite losing to the back to back Super Bowl Champions (again), the Ravens proved they could go toe-to-toe with a powerhouse team (game should have gone to overtime) who many would consider the best in the league right now. Recent signing Derrick Henry, despite only having 13 carries for 46 yards, proved that he can do what the Ravens signed him for: getting to the endzone. Harbaugh commented on his use stating that the Ravens didn't bring Henry to Baltimore to hammer him with carries (source) and instead plans to use him along the rest of their guys as a part of the team. 

Washington Commanders: Losers
Despite rookie Jayden Daniels having an outstanding performance and setting the rookie debut rushing record with 88 yards and 2 touchdowns, he was overlooked by how bad Emmanuel Forbes and Benjamin St-Juste are. This is a direct result of the Ron Rivera/Dan Snyder era coming back to haunt the franchise as one last "F you" to the DC fans. This team is going to go 4-13 or worse if they don't get some new corners or maybe just an entirely new defense. 

Philadelphia Eagles: Winners
Despite the loss of Jason Kelce, the Eagles proved the despised tush push is still just as effective. That's because they signed Saquon Barkley in the post season, who squats more than Jalen Hurts. Oh and by the way, he's a running back... and he scored 3 touchdowns in a narrow victory against a strong Green Bay Packers team. Seems like the Eagles have a lot to look forward to this season after maintaining almost all of their offensive weapons and upgrading their depth at the RB position.

My picks for week 2:

Las Vegas Raiders at Baltimore Ravens: Ravens (-510)
The ravens are coming off a tough loss against the Chiefs but are playing at home this week. The Raiders don't have a strong offense but held the Chargers offense to 4 first downs all game last week. If Lamar can avoid Maxx Crosby and the Raiders D-Line we should be able to get a win here.

San Franciso 49ers at Minnesota Vikings: 49ers (-290)
The only reason the odds are this low is because the 49ers are playing at the Vikings stadium. The only reason the Vikings scored 4 touchdowns last week is because the Giants are that bad. McCaffrey is coming back this week and their defense just shut down Aaron Rodgers, Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson with relative ease last week.

New York Giants at Washington Commanders: Commanders (-125)
We just talked about how bad the Commanders corners are and now Danny Dimes has been backed into a corner by the New York fans who want his head. We've seen moments where he can come up big and show us why he got that massive contract extension. He's fighting for more than his job here... its about his dignity. That's why I'm taking the Washington Commanders here in a dogfight victory. The Giants have owned the Commanders recently but Jayden Daniels is gonna put the aura merchant allegations to shame and take the W at home. 

Check in next week for my takeaways from week 2!